Dear Max & Jake,

Happy birthday Max! I still cannot believe that you are 3 years old. You had a wonderful birthday party and all your friends were there! I had a hard time deciding what to do for your birthday, everything is so expensive and we really didn’t want to spend a lot of money. On the other hand, it was so hot that we figured having an outdoor party would be miserable. About a month before your birthday we discovered a new jump house in Southlake, you especially loved it since there was a Batman inflatable. When I looked into having a party I saw that it was going to cost at least $200 to have a birthday party on the weekend and that was only inviting 10-15 kids. After a lot of research I ended up booking your party at the Jump Zone for only $99 including up to 25 kids and all paper products and utensils included! I got such a good deal because we had your party on a Friday morning, it was actually great because it wasn’t crowded and pretty much all of your friends were able to come! Even Emery and Kade came all the way from Midland to come to your party. Robbie, Kenzie, Logan, Trevor, Kendra, Lauralie, and Oliver all came from church. Then Dani, Jessie, Avery, Alecksandra, Creighton, Catherine, Madolyn, Brenden, Grayson, LD, Grant, Cameron, Riley, and Bradford also came! It was so neat to see all of your little buddies that we do play dates with together at your party. You were also lucky that Aunt Joy, Uncle Bucky and Aunt Jojo also were able to make it, and of course Nona and Papa were there along with Mama, Dada, and Jake.

After all you kids jumped your heads off we headed into the party room to sing happy birthday to you and eat some cake. Did I mention how nice it was that I didn’t have to do ANYTHING! The Jump Zone set everything up and cleaned everything up, it was awesome. So anyway, you loved your Batman cake and blew 2 of your 3 candles out, you needed a little bit of help reaching the third one, so I helped you a little so that you wouldn’t spit all over the cake. After we ate cake you got to sit in this big blow up chair to open all your presents. So there you were, looking like a king ripping into each of your presents. You got lots of great stuff, including several Batman toys, it took you 20-30 minutes just to open everything! Your big gifts this year were your train table, the Batcave and Joker’s Fun House, and all of the characters that came with it. You are a lucky boy, and very blessed.

On Saturday we went with Nona and Papa to the Rainforest Cafe for dinner and then you and Jake got to get a stuffed animal at the Build-A-Bear workshop. Jake choose a black bear and you helped him choose the Buzz Lightyear outfit. For your animal you choose an owl and then put a vest and tie on him as well as a pair of glasses. When you and Nona went to make his birth certificate you decided to name him Hootie! Jake’s bear remains nameless.

Aunt Bethany and Emery and Kade came the week of your party and we got to go swimming with them on Wednesday. We had a lot of fun and then on Thursday we went the the Southlake town center and ate at the Cheesecake Factory. We had fun just walking around and the four of you loved the water fountain, but after about 10 minutes you were all red faced so we went to Barnes and Nobel to cool off and look at books. We managed to get a few pictures of the 4 of you, but it was difficult to get all of you to be still for more than 2 seconds.

We did a lot of swimming this month and I have made you two practice your swimming and floating so that you guys won’t forget everything you learned. We finally remembered to take our little 2-foot slide to Nona and Papa’s house and Jake loved going down it. In fact, Jake just kept getting out of the pool and going down the slide until I finally put it up so he would stay in the water. Jake, you are such a little booger. I must say that I’m really proud of you two little goof balls. Everything I have read says that it is impossible to teach really young children the concept of sharing and taking turns, but I completely disagree. I refuse to constantly referee things and you two have pretty much figured out how to play together and get along. If I hear crying or squealing I tell you guys that if you don’t work it out then I am taking whatever toy your are fighting over away and neither of you are going to get to play with it. So far it is working and you two constantly play together and I’m very thankful that you are buddies.

Everyone has now gone back to school, including me. I am teaching on Tuesday and Wednesday mornings and Nona is coming over to watch you two. You guys are having a blast with Nona and I know that she enjoys spending time with playing with you. Last week she took you guys to “toddler time” at the library and you came home with little paper clocks because they were teaching how to tell time. Now Max is constantly asking me what time it is and what we do at that time. It goes something like this, “Mama, what time is it?” and I say, “It’s 1 o’clock.” Then Max says, “What do we do at 1 o’clock?” and then I say, “Well, it’s almost time for nap.” This goes on and on and on and on and on. Max, you ask a lot of questions and you pretty much talk constantly. I know I am just getting paid back because my mom and dad say that is exactly what I did. In fact, my dad lamented that once I had learned how to talk I never shut up. I was always very curious and inquisitive and I still am. Max, you are definitely the same way. One day in the car you were just asking me question after question and I was just so tired of it that I told you not to talk until we got home, we were probably two minutes from the house. After about 10 seconds you whined and said, “Mama, I just want to talk!” I laughed and told you to talk to Jake, you then said that you didn’t want to talk to Jake, so I saw your cup in your cup holder and told you to talk to your cup. You looked at me and smiled and then picked up your cup and said, “Hi cup, what are you doing?” It was funny. I figured if you can talk to Batman on the phone all the time then you can talk to your cup. Okay, I got off topic. So when everyone was talking about going back to school I asked you if you wanted to go to school and you replied, “No Mama, I want to stay home with you FOREVER!” It was so sweet. The way I see it, there are only a few precious years that I have to be home with you boys, you will be in school for plenty of years so why rush it? I think school is great and I know that it will be good for you, but right now we are making huge sacrifices so that I can stay home with you and it just doesn’t make sense to pay to send you off to school right now. You are around plenty of kids and I’m not worried in the least that you need help in that area. In fact, I think too many kids only know how to interact with one another and don’t know to interact with adults. Anyway, I could totally get off on a tangent here but I will save this topic for a blog post on my own website. Basically, I am not going to put you in school this year, enough said.

This month Dada had to go out of town to Boston for work and we really missed him the week that he was gone. I took you both with me to pick him up from the airport when he came home and you both loved seeing all the airplanes! Dada brought home a new “bobo” for Jake (that is what he calls penguins) and he got a hammerhead shark for Max. The first night he got home after his trip Max was wearing his Batman pjs and he came in the kitchen and said, “Dada! I tooted in your chair!” Max, you were acting a little hyper and crazy and when Dada told you it was time to eat dinner he told you that you needed to calm down. You looked at him and replied, “Batman NEVER calms down!” You say the funniest things. Like when I asked you “Who do you call in an emergency?” and instead of saying, “911″ you thought about it and said, “Batman!” Okay, so anyway, I need to get pictures taken for Max turning 3 and for Jake turning 18 months old and we are planning on doing that over Labor Day weekend. The other day I actually thought about taking a picture on Sunday morning before church and I got a great one of my 3 favorite guys. I sure am a lucky girl!

Jake still drags his blanket around rubbing the tag and sucking his thumb, it is so cute. He also loves Bobo, his penguin, and lately he has been wearing sunglasses. It is really cute, even if he wears heart-shaped ones that he got as a party favor from a girl’s birthday party. Jake, you are such a funny little boy and I love your precious curly hair and your sweet smile. You are definitely a boy, but you do have a sweet side. You give such good hugs and sloppy kisses and unlike your brother, you only have to be asked once and you never deny your mama a hug and a kiss. I love to snuggle with you and just hug and kiss on you. Even though Max is 3, he is still very much a mama’s boy. While he might deny other people affection, he NEVER denies me when I want a kiss or a hug. If he accidentally steps on my toe or hurts me while playing around he will come hug me and say, “I’m sorry, Mama, are you okay?” You are such a sweet and caring boy. I’m so proud of you, Max, you finally stopped going #2 in your pullup! Unfortunately, your bowels are like clock-work and you’ve always pooped in the morning. I have taught you to stay in bed until I come get you, so you usually poop in your pullup, even though you are completely potty trained during the day. In an effort to get you to poop in the toilet I told you that you can get up and go poop in the toilet and then get back in bed and wait for me to come get you. We used fake money as a reward system and you can buy different privileges with your money. Well, it has totally worked and now you are pooping in the toilet in the morning and then getting back in bed and waiting for me to come get you. You earned a trip to the jump house and I even let you bring a friend, you chose to bring Robbie. We had so much fun and then we went to eat at Cici’s. I let you have a dollar so that you could “play games” and you bought a fake mustache. It was so cute and hilarious!

Summer is pretty much over and I am so ready for the fall. I’m ready for cooler weather, walks to the park, feeding the ducks, and visiting the pumpkin patch. You two are at such a fun age, and even though staying home is still challenging, I am truly enjoying it!

Love,

Mama

A little couch jumping

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